I caught, cleaned and cooked a lot of fish. But I’ve always baked them in an oven. I have a trip planned where I’m hoping to catch trout and will be cooking them similar to this over an open flame.
Can some Dopers give me suggestions to ensure I get the best possible results. I’ve never cooked trout before so what’s the best spices, garnishes, cooking times, distance from the fire and so on. Thanks.
Cooking over an open fire can be tricky, especially without a lot of experience. It is easy to end up with overdone fish that is charred on the outside.
My first choice for trout actually would be to cook them in a cast iron skillet over the fire. Dredge them in some salt, pepper, and flour. Get some fat (butter, oil) into the castiron, get it nice and hot and only give them maybe two minutes on each side, they will cook fast.
If you don’t want to bring a skillet along, wrap the fish in aluminum foil and then place on the grill over the fire. This method tastes good with lemon and thyme. Again it just makes it a little easier to control the temp.
Thanks, Jorge. It’s a backpacking trip so a skillet is out. Wrapped in foil what would be a good cooking time?
There’s nothing like a fresh-caught trout pan-fried in butter! If cast-iron is out, maybe you can get a cheap Teflon pan. Cheap ones are… well, cheap. Also, they tend to be light.
If you make sushi then you won’t have to cook it at all! 
Butter and dill also makes a really tasty combination.
Assuming you’ve got an arrangement similar to the one pictured (stone bordered fire pit, raised grill, hardwood fire), you should go probably no more than 18 to 20 minutes for foil wrapped filets, turning halfway through. Use a fire that’s been burning long enough to develop some good coals so that the heat is less variable.
Lightly grease the inside of the foil when you wrap your fish, making a good seal before laying it on the grill. Use individual wraps for each fish. I agree with Jorge_Burrito about the lemon and thyme, but the dill idea is good too - use thin lemon slices, oil (or butter) and herbs, and make sure to get inside the cavity of the fish. Salt and pepper to taste and they should be delicious!
Enjoy your trip!
Wow, 20 minutes? Thanks, I was thinking 5-10. Glad I asked.
It’s a month off as I feel I need to get myself in better shape but thanks. I’m going to try to follow this guys lead.
-Just a quick note, I’ve never done foil wrap over a campfire, so I can’t directly vouch for the actual cooking time you’ll need, but I feel pretty certain 10 minutes won’t fully cook the fish. 8 to 10 minutes per side seems to be the consensus on the 'tubes, and bears with my experience using the foil technique on a charcoal grill.
Good luck on the adventure then. Hydrate!
Bears use that technique too? Cool!
Only when they can’t steal pic-a-nic baskets.
I know you’re kidding, but just for the record: never eat raw freshwater fish. It’s way more susceptible to parasites than saltwater fish.
Not to rain on your parade or anything, OP. I don’t have all that many goals in life, but one of them for sure is to some day catch, cook, and eat trout myself, and I look forward to that day. Let us know how it turned out?
In addition to thyme, and dill, rosemary is also very good on fish. Also, rosemary is an easy to grow herb. Our bush gets bigger and happier every year.
Will do… if I survive, ha ha.
Thanks, Xeno!
It’s going to depend on your coals and the thickness of the fish, but I actually would check at the 10 minute interval if you’re cooking directly on the coals. I can’t imagine that it would take 20 minutes, but I could be wrong.
This recipe gives a range of 5 - 25 minutes.
You’re backpacking? just take some salt and pepper, I can’t imagine cooking something after a long day of backpacking and NOT liking it.
Take some foil and wrap the fish. You can even drizzle some oil over it if you want to pack that.
There are two really good ways to check and see if the fish is done. If the eyes have have hardened and look like a white bb in an eye socket, it’s done. My favorite way to check, though, is to open up the foil and put my hand over it. Wait a few seconds then close your hand, if the steam and vapors from the cooking fish made your hand somewhat sticky, the fish has cooked.
Also, take the time to scale the fish. The skin is the best tasting part. I hate to see it go to waste. Plus, it’s so much easier to eat without worrying about peeling off the skin.
If you want to go primitive you don’t even need the foil. Thick mud works great.
I’ve only done this with ocean fish, mahi mahi, etc and don’t know much about trout, but one of my most successful dishes I made at a party was a filet with garlic, butter, a thin slice of lemon over the filets, a little parsley for color, salt and pepper to taste. I folded the filet into an aluminimum envelope. I held the right and left ends of the foil and brought them together in the middle and folded it down, then folded the ends in. Usually three to four folds per seam. Then I just threw it on the fire until the aluminum started to darken or butter started to bubble out from one of the seams. If you have any spices that go well with trout, feel free to throw them in, sorry, again, don’t know much about lake fish. Easy prep, and easy clean up.
